"How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?"
He got dismissed as politically naive and optimistic to assume we could shed the artificial boundaries of nation states, and conflicts of interest, but he always pointed out that once it became economically evident that it would prove useful and efficient, the idea would start to look good. He even calculated time periods for how long it took for new ideas to get adopted in different aspects of human life.
One of the grand unifying ideas that impressed me involved linking the electrical networks of the USSR (as was) with that of the USA. Surplus energy generated in the day side of the planet would heat and light the night side of the planet, indefinitely.
Of course, the illusion of separation and distance of 'East' and 'West' created by the Greenwich-centred Mercator and Peters projection maps in use made it seem unfeasible to many
but looking at it another way, it turns out the US/Canadian continent, and the Russian/Asian continent almost touch (something like 30 miles apart) so the engineering aspect of the plan has much going for it.
Any spherical globe can demonstrate this, but Bucky's Dymaxion maps make the idea more vividly realistic (to my eyes).
I have no idea what timescale Bucky put on the adoption of this idea, but perhaps recent news could prove a sign that the change has started to look inevitable, essential...
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan Interconnecting Their Electric Grids
China Completes Cross-Border Power Transmission Project With Russia
Hell, if you don't like Bucky's map, even a Mercator projection centred on the USA (with Russia to the West) can show how easily the continental gap could be bridged...
4 comments:
@Bogus, thanks, I was happy to see a section dedicated to Bucky Fuller, design science and geodesics, in the movie 2012: Time for Change, last week. (you can find a version at youtube if you search). Like in your post, it's nice to see examples of real solutions to global geopolitical and economic problems, awaiting activation, like some kind of genesis bomb' (a hyperthetical 'speeded up natural organic evolution' to protect Earth, and turn it back to something more resembling a garden than a waste tip!)
Such a massive undertaking seems to have been partially sketched out by Bucky, with his scale-invariant design solutions, and strategies.
Sharing resources on a global scale sounds simple, and a great idea, as you say Bogus, eventually we may have to follow Bucky's Critical Path.
Great post! It's time for Fuller's whole systems, design science ideas to make a popular come back and get put into application.
http://muvi.es/w117
fuzzbuddy
http://mckennaforum.com/robert-anton-wilson-an-icoriggable-optimist/
fuzzbuddy =)
Post a Comment